Leadership Styles

Leadership is defined as the process of guiding, directing, and organizing a group to achieve common goals. Leaders do this in different ways. The way a leader controls and influences the group towards goals achievement is called leadership style.

There are several types of leadership styles. These leadership styles differ from one another based on the degree of control and power that the leader exercises in relation to the group for goals achievement. Leadership style may also vary with the situation where the leader and his team engage to accomplish some tasks.

The widely known styles of leadership are as follows.

   Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leadership is also known as authoritarian leadership. It is that type of leadership where the leader has the most control and power over the group. The leader makes all the decision himself and do not include the opinions of the group in the decision-making process.

Cons of autocratic leadership: Since all the decisions are made only by the leader, the team members view these decisions as to have been imposed over them. Therefore, the team members generally express low motivation towards the accomplishment of the tasks. Since the decisions are made by only one person (leaders) ignoring the important inputs of the team members, these decisions are less-creative and less-innovative which can efficiently address all the areas of the work. Therefore, such a decision may also negatively affect the overall effectiveness of the teamwork. Due to the bossy attitude of the leader and his overly regulative behaviour, the team members lose confidence in the leader as well as lose interest in their work 

Pros of autocratic leadership: Since the decision are made unilaterally by the leader, the decision-making process is quick and save a lot of time. In leadership styles where inputs of all team members are included in the decision-making process, the decision-making process takes fairly long time to complete. However, there are situations where making urgent decisions are required on regular basis. For such situations, the autocratic leadership style works well.

   Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership style is that type of leadership where the leader believes in the democratic participation of the team member. The leader respects and values the opinions of the team members and thus includes their opinions in the decision-making process. The leader makes the team members realize that the participation of every team-member is equally important for goals accomplishment. The leader acts as a caring guide for the team rather than an authoritative boss.

Pros of democratic leadership: Since the suggestions of the team members are included in the decision-making process, they develop a personal attachment to the work. They express great interest in the work and a strong motivation towards goal accomplishment. The members of the group actively participate rather than passively accepting the orders (as in the authoritarian leadership style). Since all members are perceived as equal and important participants, the members feel more responsible and thus, they strive their best to contribute (through their efforts) to teamwork as much as possible. As the decisions are based on inputs from all members, these decisions have the potential to address almost every aspect of the work and to prove more productive.

The leader encourages the low-performing members rather than punishing them. Due to this, the low-performing members are not disheartened and thus, they sincerely try to enhance their performance. Moreover, the leader tends to resolve conflict among the members and use other techniques to provide a harmonious working environment to achieve maximum productivity.

Cons of democratic style: As the decision-making process includes the inputs of every member, the decision-making process is a lengthy process that wastes a huge amount of time. In a group where the group-members are good at their task but lack the expertise to provide useful inputs to the decision-making process, the democratic style may not work well as it is supposed to do.

   Laissez-faire leadership style 

Laissez faire leadership style is a type of leadership where all the decisions are made by the subordinates. The leader himself is not involved in the decision making. The main function of the leader is to provide resources to the team members, but the team members have to decide themselves about important things such as 1) how to use these resources, 2) how to manage time and schedule activities, 3) how to minimize the cost and maximize the output, and so on.

This leadership style work best with highly motivated, talented, and hardworking members. Likewise, the members must have prior knowledge of planning and management. They should be well-versed in decision-making. If these conditions are met, the members perform very well because of the freedom to make decisions on their own and to carry out the plan and make changes in the plan immediately to suit it to changing circumstances.

In situations, where the members are not very skilled and lack basic principles of decision-making, this type of leadership is less likely to perform well. Moreover, under such a leadership style, the members tend to engage in conflicts over making decisions. Another downside of this leadership style, the members may feel lazy and work less due to too much freedom.

   Transactional leadership style 

Transactional leadership style is that type where the leader organizes, supervises, and leads the group through a system of rewards and punishments. The leader has a formal authority who is responsible for monitoring and enhancing the performance of the team members. Like all leaders use certain techniques to motivate the team members, the transactional leader uses rewards and penalties as tools to motivate the members. This type of leadership can be seen in formal setups such as companies and organizations where the boss promises bonuses (rewards) for better performance of the employees. Likewise, penalties, such as deduction from salary, are used to revert employees from poor performance.  

This type of leadership generally works well in formal setups with well-defined rules and regulations but may not work very well in situations that are purely informal. For instance, if the team members are non-paid voluntary members and have joined voluntarily to contribute to social welfare activity.

   Transformational leadership style  

Transformational leadership is that type where the leader inspires and motivate the members and encourage them to enhance their potentials. It is called transformational leadership because it gives the team an opportunity for transformational experience – to raise their capabilities to a higher level. This transformational experience is the product of the leadership environment based on inspiration and motivation provided by the leader.

The transformational leader inspires group members for a positive change. Such a leader is an intelligent, energetic, and caring person. To help team members improve their performance, the leader goes beyond his role of influencing the team (towards the accomplishment of the goals) for that very activity. For instance, he also advises the team on how to become productive in general. He guides the team member to develop the spirit of persistence. He shares his knowledge of different strategies of goal achievement with the team members to educate them. Overall, this leadership style provides a grooming experience to the group members.